


I Swear to Agni I Can Explain

by Blue_Pluto



Series: who gave these idiots camera equipment? [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Gen, Worldbuilding, Youtube AU, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, and his freinds just. let him do that. with no help, bending still exists btw, he works at an animal shelter and a dragon sanctuary and i love him, i honestly put too much effort into worldbuilding this, some slight mentions of dragon hunting that make zuko sad, this video is fun bc zuko is like "how do i explain my dragon son to my audience", well more like modern/atla fusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:02:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25754029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Pluto/pseuds/Blue_Pluto
Summary: Zuko looks more frazzled than he normally does, anxiously cracking his knuckles and pulling on his fingers. His hair is messier than usual, half down and tousled in a way that makes him look rather stressed.He also has a small red dragon draped over his shoulders.“So. Uh. You might be wondering where I’ve been these past few weeks. But I wanted to start by introducing you guys to someone?”Zuko looks much more uncomfortable on camera than any professional youtuber should be.
Relationships: Zuko & Druk
Series: who gave these idiots camera equipment? [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1868236
Comments: 32
Kudos: 364





	I Swear to Agni I Can Explain

**Author's Note:**

> this is.... eventually gonna be a series?? i have like 2 other fics for it 1/2 finished and like. i probably should have done them first bc chronologically they come first but?? eh this was done

**Video Title:** _I Swear to Agni I Can Explain_

By _Hello, Zuko Here_ (Verified Account) 

-=+=-

The video shows Zuko, a young Fire Nation man with black hair and a large burn scar on his face, sitting on a modest deck overlooking a large yard. The yard is sectioned off in multiple places, allowing enclosures for various animals. There is a pond obviously meant for turtle ducks off to the right, a traditional Air Nation style lemur habitat, and a half melted ice enclosure where a polar bear dog is sleeping. Although anyone who’s familiar with the videos of Zuko and his friends knows that there are a number of other animals, including a sky bison and multiple hawks, that are also under the group’s care. 

Zuko looks more frazzled than he normally does, anxiously cracking his knuckles and pulling on his fingers. His hair is messier than usual, half down and tousled in a way that makes him look rather stressed. 

He also has a small red dragon draped over his shoulders. 

“So. Uh. You might be wondering where I’ve been these past few weeks. But I wanted to start by introducing you guys to someone?” 

Zuko looks much more uncomfortable on camera than any professional youtuber should be. 

The dragon lifts its head, possibly sensing the distress of it’s master, before lightly bumping its snout to his cheek. Zuko’s face softens considerably, and he seems to gain back some of his usual composure. 

“This is Druk.” Zuko says, lifting a hand to scratch the dragon’s head. Druk seemed to enjoy it, closing his eyes and wiggling despite still being draped over Zuko’s neck. 

“He’s a baby dragon. Though, ah, you might have already guessed that.” He lets out a bit of a breathy laugh. “He’s kinda the reason I’ve been MIA from everyone’s videos.” 

Druk makes a noise almost like a purr, and nips at Zuko’s ear. Zuko cringes slightly, but pulls the dragon’s jaw off his ear with gentle hands. He mumbles a quick admonishment to the dragon that the mic doesn't properly pick up, though the phrase _‘we don’t bite friends’_ is clear. As soon as the dragon is settled he begins petting it’s tiny head with two of his fingers. 

“Some of you are probably really really confused as to how I, ya know, got _a dragon_.” Zuko chuckles nervously again, but sobers after a moment, his face setting into a hard line. “Especially with the amount of poaching and illegal adoption and stuff that's been going on with them.” 

He looks legitimately upset for a moment, lost in thought. Druk bumps him, annoyed that Zuko stopped petting him, and the young man smiles before continuing to explain. 

“So, because of that I thought I’d make a video kinda explaining how I got Druk, slash as an explanation to where I’ve been, slash kinda as an educational video since there’s been a lot of misinformation about dragons since their re-discovery.” 

_“Are you trying to steal my brand?”_ A feminine voice asks from off screen, followed by a handful of overlapping laughs. The clear side of Zuko’s face flushes a light pink. 

“And, uh, for the record I know Yue does a lot of educational and informative stuff and she’s technically part of our group- well I don’t mean technically as in like _technically_ , like she’s part of the group just as much as I am, even though she doesn't really ever post on the communal channel. But, uh, she mostly does history and spirit stuff? And I’m just doing this one video on dragons so. I’m not, like, trying to replace her or anything.” Zuko rambles the whole thing out in a rush, eyes wide like a spooked owlcat. Some more good-natured laughing can be heard from offscreen. 

_“Zuko, Babe, she was just kidding!”_ Someone else, probably Sokka considering the endearment, calls out. Zuko blushes harder and mutters something that the mic can’t pick up. 

“I knew that.” Zuko yells over his shoulder, before focusing on the camera again. 

“Anyway, I guess I should start with the beginning.” His brow creases with concentration even as he idly scratches Druk’s head. 

“So a few hundred years back dragon hunting was a whole thing for like pride and shit, which was really fucking shitty and stupid.” He scowls and cups a hand around Druk’s head protectively. “And because of that the dragons were hunted until they were thought to be extinct.” 

“ _But-”_ He perks up slightly, “Forty-ish years ago the Sun Warriors revealed to the world that they had sheltered some dragons on their Island and protected them from the hunting! Which, uh, you probably already knew since it was _massive_ news.” Zuko blushes, glancing off to the side of the camera. 

“All of that is pretty common knowledge, but uh, it seemed important to lay out the foundations you know? Ha.” He shifts uncomfortably. 

“Also, like, if you don’t know who the Sun Warriors are they’re an ancient religious tribe that mostly live on a large island north of the Fire Nation mainland. It’s pretty uncommon to meet someone of Sun Warrior descent anywhere besides their island homeland since they tend to be pretty cut off from the mainland. I mean it’s not impossible but it’s pretty rare.” Zuko tugs on his uncharacteristically messy hair. 

“Anyway, uh, tangent, but basically the reasoning behind that is because for a long time they were trying to keep the existence of their dragons a secret you know? Which makes sense and stuff. Before they announced everything it was actually illegal to fly over the island or take go in the waters within seven kilometers of the island. Unless you had some _very_ specific paperwork.” 

“Eventually once they started to build the numbers back up they realized that they needed to start re-releasing the dragons into the wild before they became too domesticated. ‘Cus like, dragons are big, ya know? They need a lot of space. Plus they had some species native to the Earth Kingdom and the Poles, and while they _did_ manage to replicate the habitats pretty well, it wasn’t as good as the real thing.” 

Zuko gets more and more animated the farther he goes into his rant, eyes sparkling with his excitement. 

“It’s actually pretty lucky that the ancient Sun Warriors made a point to research and care for the two other species of dragons as well, since for a really long time the Sun Warriors only cared for dragons native to the Fire Nation. I think it was like, seven hundred years of only taking care of Fire dragons? Until hunting became a thing, obviously, and they managed to get some Earth and Water dragon eggs as well. Which, while they're all the same animal and everything, there's actually a lot of difference between them! Like all three species breath fire, but Water dragons are natural swimmers- they actually prefer it to flying! And they have a tendency to slurp up water and breathe steam at things, which is really cute and I think is supposed to be an affectionate thing, but is also kinda really dangerous? Like, Mimi- she’s a water dragon I know that’s only 6, she keeps steaming at me and it’s so _cute_ but _also_ she’s going to like boil my skin and I _really_ don’t need to come home looking flame broiled every time I go into work-” 

Zuko is cut off, and a blue-backed text card takes the screen. The corner of the text card features a chibi drawing of Sokka and Zuko. Chibi Sokka is laughing and has an arm thrown around a pouting, blushing Zuko’s shoulders. 

The text card reads: 

_Hey! Sokka here! Editing and stuff!_

_Zuko’s rambling is adorable, but it goes on for nearly thirty minutes and we want this to be a manageable length. So we’re cutting it out, sorry! But! If you want more of his rambling or shelter stories check out some of his/our gaming vids, or check out the Gaang’s twitch account! It’s pretty easy to get him on a tangent about just about any animal, literally just comment something and he’ll go on forever if he sees it._

_Coincidentally, this is why we skip most animal care questions during Q &As. XD _

_Anyway, back to your regularly non-scheduled content!_

The video cuts back to Zuko, still sitting in the same chair, though the sun has clearly changed positions in the background. Zuko is pouting, as someone says something inaudible off screen. 

“So Bean is a bad name for a green dragon, but Hawkey is _so_ original?” 

Laughter can again be heard off screen, along with Sokka’s squawks of protest. Zuko rolls his eyes and turns back to the camera. 

“ _Okay_. This is taking _so freaking long_ I’m gonna try and hurry up.” Zuko huffs. He seems significantly more relaxed than he did before the cut. 

“Basically. Hunting becomes a thing, Sun Warriors start raising all breeds of dragons. They do pretty well for a couple hundred years, but then they start running out of space. Forty years ago- from when this video was filmed at least- they announce to the rest of the world that dragons are, like, _not extinct_ , so they can get legal protections and start re-releasing dragons into their natural habitats.” 

“Again, all public knowledge. But, something you might not have known was that my uncle was one of the heads of the reintegration efforts.” Zuko grins at the admission. 

“He was actually _also_ the one to make Dragon Care an actual certification you can get, and the first non-Sun Warrior to become a certified master. Since then though he’s put a lot of time into helping with dragon conservation efforts. Cus, like, yeah, releasing dragons into the wild was necessary, but it was also _difficult_ . The dragon population is still really low, and there are a ton of both natural and manmade issues. Like, if you’ve done even ten minutes of research into dragon you know about the _insane_ amounts of poaching. People just desperately want their own pet dragon, even if they have no clue how to take care of them.” 

Zuko frowns. 

“Which, by the way, is _both_ super dangerous _and_ super illegal. Dragons are in a weird sort of place, cus they’re not fully domesticated like sky bison or polar bear dogs, but they’re not fully wild either. They used to be, of course, but having their population manually built up again left them sort of domesticated, despite the Sun Warrior’s best efforts to maintain their natural instincts.” 

“At this point the general consensus is that those in the wild will eventually re-discover their natural instincts and their domesticated traits will fade out with the generations. And, in theory the opposite will happen with dragons bred in captivity, until we end up with an actually domesticated subspecies. Though that’ll take a really long time ‘cus dragon life spans are about as long as ours, so. Yeah.” Zuko shrugs. 

“Long story short, since my Uncle has been involved with Dragon conservation so long I also got into it. I got my mastery in dragon care a few years back. Y’all already know I work at a general animal sanctuary part time, but I also work at one of the few certified dragon shelters.” 

“We do a few different things there, like care for dragons injured in the wild or by poachers, and take in ones that have been illegally bought as pets. If we deem a dragon able to survive in the wild we usually try to release it, but some are just more suited to human companionship and care. Those dragons we usually breed, and again we release the babies that are more suited for the wild and continue to care for those more suited for human companionship.” 

His face goes soft and he gently runs a finger over Druk’s head. The dragon gives a soft purr, despite having fallen asleep at some point during the previous cut. 

Zuko smiles softly at his dragon for another moment, before his expression sobers. 

“Druk was from one of the injured dragons that had come in. She showed up really injured- a poaching attempt, we think. We don’t know for sure though, dragons have a tendency to show up at sanctuaries on their own. I guess once one deems it safe the others seem to find out some way or another.” 

“Anyway, well, his mom didn’t make it. But she did leave her egg with us. Dragon eggs need constant heat to develop, usually a parent dragon will constantly breathe fire on their eggs. But…” 

Zuko flushes slightly, and clears his throat. 

“I, uh, ended up proving the heat for Druk’s egg. With, like, firebending. Obviously. Mostly ‘cus getting a dragon to care for an egg that isn’t theirs is pretty difficult so we figured it’d be better for a human to care for it, and, well the mother wouldn’t let anyone but me approach her before she died so…” 

By this point Zuko’s face is a deep red, clearly embarrassed. 

“So… yeah. Baby dragons generally imprint on the dragon that heated it’s egg, and even though they separate from their parents at around ten years old they generally travel back to visit their parent a handful of times each year. And since I… ya know… heated the egg I kinda need to take care of him.” 

Druk gives a small snore. Zuko’s expression again softens. 

“Not that I don’t want to. I’m just explaining why he’s staying with us and not at the sanctuary. I actually had to get special legal permission, which was really hard and only went through because I have a mastery in dragon care.”

He gives the camera a stern look. 

“For the record, dragon care is insanely difficult. If you want to get into it you should do it by the proper channels and find a master to train under. Illegally adoption of dragons is a _huge_ issue, like I said before, and _insanely_ dangerous. Both for the dragon, and yourself. Even if you have certifications for other animal care, _don’t freaking do it._ These dragons are usually treated horribly and will try to kill you. Even babies can be deadly, and their mannerisms are completely different to those of other animals.” 

Zuko lets out a breath, the tension melting out of his shoulders with it. 

“Sorry to get all serious. But I do trust that you guys would be smart about this kind of thing. There are resources in the description below of charities that help with dragon conservation and stopping poaching, as well as a number to call if you think you might know of someone illegally selling dragons.” 

He gives the camera a small smile. 

“Anyway, that’s why I haven’t been in any videos the past few weeks. Caring for a dragon egg, and then later a baby dragon, takes a lot of time, and I wanted to wait a bit before introducing Druk to you guys. Plus I wanted to wait until I had time to make a formal video so that no one thought we illegally adopted Druk, and to get out my stance on poaching and illegal adoption. And I figured while I was doing that I could try to make some kind of informational thing, since so much misinformation is out there....” 

Zuko waves awkwardly at the camera.

“So… that’s it really. Have a nice day? I, uh, still don’t have an outro....” 

With that the video fades away to a hand painted end card, a very serene image of Druk curled by a small pond. Though it clashes with the outro music, a ridiculous polka definitely picked by someone other than Zuko. 

**Author's Note:**

> a/n: OOF ok so. I’ve talked about this AU a tiny bit on my [tumblr](https://blue---pluto.tumblr.com/) and i have. A bunch of ideas for it?? But we’ll see when anything else comes out lmao 
> 
> Im sorry if anything seems confusing pls idk shoot me an ask or smthn?? I love talking about my aus ok??? I legit have 4k+ words of backstory on this im a MESS. also sorry this is like so much exposition lksjdlksjlkja 
> 
> I actually made the backstory with the intention of like. None of it really coming up/just for my own use but now i think im gonna do a like…. Fake wiki fic thing??? If that makes sense 
> 
> I probably sound crazy im sorry have a nice day pls comment ty bye 
> 
> Edit: I FORGOT!! The gaang collectively have an absolute ton of animals, many just pets but also aang and zuko work at animal shelters!! So…… suggest animal names OwO. (most will probably go to ‘real’ animals but also i have a half finished minecraft thing and ofc they have an insane amount of virtual pets so. Some names will go to those as well :) )


End file.
